Haaretz reports that Israel is determined to remove Iranian influence from Syria. Doing so would be the first step in a premeditated plan to remove Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad from power. American neoconservatives support the removal of the Iranian regime, though no intelligence officials have been able to figure out what would happen in the region if the Ayatollah gets removed. Such a play by Western powers would certainly provoke mass confusion and bloodshed.